Talk:I Wanna Be Adored/@comment-3575890-20150727212115
The toxicity of Zaya throughout the seasons: Season 11: Aside from the one minor hiccup of Zig choosing Maya's beauty queen friend over her, which most assuredly did no favors for Maya's self image issues, season 11 was the healthiest their relationship has ever been if only because they barely interacted. Season 12: This is where it all began going to shit. Zig's displaying a chauvinistic attitude of women being expendable in his attempt to go from dating one girl to another, in particular her best friend, in a day marks the beginning of this long-dragging shitfest. He treated Tori like a disposable piece of trash, whilst also continually overstepped his boundaries to try to break Maya down into dating him much to her discomfort. He doesn’t care that dating Maya will negatively affect her other friendships, and most importantly, her close friendship with Tori. He only can think of himself at this point. He ignores her wishes repeatedly when she tells him to back off and intervenes in her personal affairs going so far as to say things to her suicidal boyfriend that he can never take back now. In the aftermath of Cam's death, he makes promises to her that weren't asked of him with expectations of rewarding results that were not promised to him. Season 13: Feelings of resentment and outright hostility rear its ugly head when Maya chooses to move on with somebody else instead of fulfilling Zig's unwarranted expectations, which was basically a false sense of a promise made to him that he had invented in his head. From hereon, he displays a disgusting sense of male entitlement over her. He intentionally makes it his mission to hurt her out of vindictiveness spurred by this entitlement. He bullies her in the form of harassing, mocking, humiliating, ridiculing, intimidating, slandering, guilt-tripping, trying to isolate her from friendship prospects, and sabotaging her new relationship showing no remorse for any of it. Has he apologized for the spectacle he made in class that embarrassed her in front of everyone? Has he apologized for trying to ostracize her from Grace and co? Has he apologized for his antagonizing yet another one of her boyfriends? Hell, has he apologized for being straight up fucking mean to her for 95 percent of season 13? He goes on to invade her personal space overstepping physical boundaries and forcing his way into her personal bubble either oblivious or simply not caring of her discomfort. So far, his track record shows that he's interfered with ALL of her relationships in the same way ie: intentionally poisoning her boyfriends' minds with lies and screwing with their heads with the intent to implant thoughts of self doubt, insecurity, and anxiety. Season 13 Zig is very ruthless and manipulative. He also is enough of a piece of shit that he doesn't care if Maya gets mixed up in his shady drug dealing affairs because he has such this alarming sense of entitlement that he believes it's his right to deal where he wants whenever he wants, even if it’s at the expense of the Matlins, who were kind enough to welcome him into their home when he had nowhere to go. Season 13 Zig is also an opportunist. He preys on Maya when she’s emotionally vulnerable - to exemplify, when she's recovering from a breakup from another relationship he intentionally facilitated. In this moment, he welcomes himself right into her personal bubble without permission as always leering like a total creep as he attempts to make romantic progress with her too dimwitted to understand that she's heartbroken and just wants to be left alone. Although he expresses desire to kiss her, but does not, it isn't for any noble reason such as feeling guilt for his role in the very reason she’s heartbroken in the first place, acknowledging her vulnerability and understanding that making a move would be taking advantage, or respect for Mrs. Matlin's only request of him. No, it is simply because his desperation to keep living with the Matlins supersedes that of his libido. To make matters worse, he has the AUDACITY to express regret that he didn’t take advantage of her while she was an emotional wreck just weeks after her boyfriend’s death because he can't do it now. This isn't spit-balling. This was an actual confession exposing Zig's innermost selfish desires where Maya is concerned. He admits he would’ve sooner preyed upon her at her weakest and most vulnerable than be in the friend-zone in the present. If it's not enough that he strikes within minutes of Maya's breakup with Miles, he tries again the very next day, as if 24 hours somehow makes a difference. He once again attempts to pressure her into giving him a shot, even all but forcing a bracelet on her wrist that symbolically is meant to hold promises Maya never agreed to. When he finally gets it through his skull that it's not going to happen, he gets drunk in the very greenhouse that Campbell took his life where he antagonizes her boyfriend in order to infuriate him enough to get him to lay his hands on him just so he and Tiny can double team him. To rile Miles up, he hits him where he knows it will strike a chord, by referring to Maya as his sloppy seconds as if she’s goods he used up that no longer has any worth or value. Any boyfriend would be pissed to hear their girlfriend being spoken about in such a dehumanizing manner, and he knows this. When Miles revolts, Zig doesn't even have the courtesy to take the fight outside of the location that Campbell's dead body once lay. Classy, right? He bloodies Miles up right in the same spot that Campbell passed. Season 14: Zig gradually undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis through his interactions with a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GIRL and eventually has his redemption. He is now a likeable and good person, but with a catch: he's still a better person without Maya than with. Nevermind the many problematic messages that his recent romantic union with Maya promotes, if not that alone, Zaya is already toxic before the relationship has even kicked off the ground. After achieving clarity, capacity of introspection, and eventual redemption, he's once again backtracking in his progress, blindly venturing into the lion’s den, ultimately putting both his and Maya’s safety at risk, just so he can keep engaging in slobbery lip lock with her. He's taking for granted the hospitality that Mrs. Matlin has shown him, and his own life. He is being foolish, reckless, and selfish, and he's bringing a similar side out of Maya. I don't hate him anymore, but these recent turn of events are doing nothing for his nor Maya's character progression or for their respective welfare for that matter anchoring this ship back to Twilight levels of unhealthy. In my honest opinion, this has always been and continues to be the most problematic (non-physically abusive pairing) ship on this entire show.